Interesting but inaccurate: PC pundits get it wrong again

This is in response to the Coeur d’Alene Press notation (Jan. 3, 2020) about the comments on Joe Biden’s remark regarding American culture. His statement has been characterized by many people as racist. Here is what Mr. Biden said, “Our culture is not imported from some African nation or some Asian nation.”

The attacks on Mr. Biden’s observation are politically correct, but they are factually incorrect. To see why, let’s revisit some history:

From the early 17th to the mid-19th centuries, America’s culture was imported largely from western European nations. As examples, the 1620 landing of western Europeans to form the Pilgrims settlement, as well as other western European settlements farther north and south. New York (Dutch) and Jamestown (English) are two examples.

The early characteristics of our culture were not imported, even remotely, from regions of the world other than Western Europe.

During this time, the areas of Europe containing present day England, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Spain established settlements, principally on America’s eastern seaboard from Maine to Florida, but also the Midwest in the Pennsylvania and Ohio areas; as well as western Virginia and Maryland. Spaniards settled into the Southwest in the 1500s.

England was the principal contributor to our early culture; not Asia or Africa. As described by historian David Hackett Fischer (in his book, “Albion’s Seed”), the populations migrated as follows:

1. 1629-41: England’s East Anglia to Massachusetts.

2. 1642-75: South England to Virginia.

3. 1675-1725: England’s north Midlands and Ireland to the Delaware area.

4. 1717-1775: North Britain, Scotland and Wales to present Midwestern America.

It was not until America had subdued the native (Indian) American on the East Coast and into the interiors of the Midwest; not until African American slave trade began to have a presence, especially in the South, did cultures other than those of western Europe play even a modest role in America’s social and political milieu. As another example, Chinese made limited inroads into California and a few states eastward during the building of the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s.

However, during these events, Native Americans were not assimilated into America’s culture; nor were the slaves from Africa; nor were the Chinese. Indeed, these cultures were subject to ridicule, isolation and discrimination.

I doubt an 1860s San Franciscan said to his wife, “Honey, let’s take in some Chinese opera tonight.” Substitute “opera” for “food” and we can more accurately grasp the reality of our history, one that has been ignored by America’s politically correct ideologues.

The cultural and political inculcations of Native Americans, Africans and Chinese into America were significant and of great importance to the fiber of our country. But they came into being decades after western European ethnicity had affixed itself to the culture of America.

Political blindness

We should grow weary of people who, because of ideological blindness and political correctness, attach themselves to a star devoid of facts, but one sparkling with ignorant platitudes.

The present situation in America is dismaying. Out-right falsehoods, such as the statements attributed to Mr. Biden’s accurate observations, are accepted as truth. One comment on social media stated, “It’s almost like Joe Bidden is a racist.”

Any student of American history knows the remark of Mr. Biden is accurate. The politically correct pundits have the subject of immigration distorted in relation to America’s history.

We may or may not want Mr. Biden to be president. That opinion is irrelevant to the focus of this article. Regardless of what our preference for a presidential candidate may be, we should not let the inaccurate and ignorant comments about Mr. Biden’s remark go unanswered.

One last point to clarify this writer’s views: America’s practice of welcoming immigrants to this country has helped make our country robust.

We should continue to pursue this idea, but not let it proceed pell-mell. Let’s adhere to the rule of law and the idea of fairness to those who legitimately wait at our nation’s borders to enter our country.

- • •

With Irish, Scottish and Native American ancestry in his veins, Uyless is a typical mixed-blooded American. Having migrated from New Mexico to Washington, D.C., then Idaho, he and his wife Holly live in Coeur d’Alene. Strong believers in cultural diversity, they lean toward owning German Water Dogs (regrettably labeled as French Poodles and sadly stereotyped in Hollywood movies).